Earlier this month I blogged about an EIR request I’d submitted to Natural England in April, asking for a copy of the second social science report that NE had commissioned as part of its review of the 7-year Hen Harrier brood meddling trial (see here).
It took Natural England 20 working days to respond and tell me that an extension of another 20 working days was required, “because of the complexity/voluminous nature of the request“.
That was complete nonsense, of course. It was a simple, straightforward request asking for a copy of a report that had been written a year ago and had already been used by Natural England in its decision to close the brood meddling ‘trial’ (sham), announced in March 2025 (here).
For new blog readers, the hen harrier brood meddling trial was a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England between 2018 – 2024, in cahoots with the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England. In general terms, the plan involved the removal of hen harrier chicks from grouse moors, they were reared in captivity, then released back into the uplands just in time for the start of the grouse-shooting season where many were illegally killed. It was plainly bonkers. For more background see here and here.
Natural England has now written again and has refused to release the social science report:
“This report is in final draft stage. Natural England are finalising this report and are progressing with the process of internal review required for publication. We cannot give an exact publication date due to uncertainties inherent in this internal review and publication process. This report is therefore being withheld under Reg 12(4)(d) – course of completion“.
So the excuse given this time is not because my request was ‘complex’ or ‘voluminous’ (because it wasn’t), but because the report is apparently still in draft status.
Even though it was written a year ago and the findings were referred to in Natural England’s March 2025 announcement on the future of hen harrier brood meddling.
Same old lack of transparency from Natural England, then. It’s almost as though there’s something to hide (apart from the corpses of illegally killed Hen Harriers).
Raptor Persecution UK 
Had such high hopes for TJ as well.
I can only assume you have never debated against him on live TV then:-(
Begs the question that if it was written a year ago and was what helped them make up their minds not to continue with the brood management fiasco, how come it is still being written now etc., etc.
You couldn’t make it up…. but they clearly can.
Noone seems to have noticed there’s been a change of Government – are Labour really this supportive of driven grouse shooting ? and by the way where is the long delayed response to the HSE opn lead ammunition ?
just ban bloody grouse moors and shooting and leave the moors to the hen harriers load of corrupt political bollocks Natural England and DEFRA waste of time and money.